After the storm
by DefenderOfMan
Summary: In an alternate universe, or halo-verse as you might say, something went wrong. Events differed from the universe we know. Enter: After the Storm. Rating may change as the story changes, it is only a projected rating. 2nd chapter up.
1. Chapter 1

**After the storm**

**Book 1**

**Survival**

**

* * *

  
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**Chapter 1**

A door slammed.

On the other side of that door lay the wilderness, cold, unforgiving, and lethal. On this side, relative safety, sustenance, and shelter.

Inside a dimly lit room there were four people playing cards. If one looked closer they would guess that they were playing some form of poker.

They were all wearing the standard Mark VII civilian issue Mjolnir armour, though they could not remember that title if they tried. They just called them clothes.

One was a woman, and the rest were men.

One of them had a straight flush. None of them cared. They were all looking at the man who just entered, as if expecting something.

He, like the others was wearing the armour. It was a dark green, as opposed to the others' armour, but otherwise unremarkable. He also held a bag slung over his shoulder.

_"Outpost 5 just fell. They put up a fight, but couldn't hold them off. I just got news over the com' while I was out hunting."_ He said after a moment, his voice tinged with sadness. He had a light voice, slightly higher pitched than the average man but not enough to be noticed.

_"Damn, that's only a few klicks from here."_ Swore one of the men. He was wearing a slightly off, olive colored suit of armour. He sounded tired and unhappy, as though something was constantly worrying him. There was a hint that he had a very handsome voice once but that all he had been through had worn it down.

_"That's what I thought as well"_ The one by the door said, as he put down the bag, revealing a few cans of food.

_"Where did you get those?" _The woman asked as she went over and started to pick through the food. She was wearing a reddish brown coloured suit, kind of like dirt that has a lot of rust in it. She had a light, fair voice. It made one pity that she was in such a situation at all.

_"At some old variety store that I found. There should be enough food in there to last us at least a couple weeks."_ The dark green guy replied as he went over to the table and sat down.

_"Good, the less we have to go out, the better."_ One of the last two men said. He was wearing a dark brown coloured suit, like the bark of a tree. He had a deep, resounding, voice. There was a serious tone to it, a no-nonsense tone that made you think that it seldom made any useless sound.

_"Are you kidding? The way Frank eats it'll last less than one week!"_ She laughed back. Her laugh was like a high, beautiful music. It was the laugh that few ever could have in their lifetimes, and made other want to laugh along with it.

Suddenly the light in the room flickered then went out. A rough voice was heard from where the remaining man was. The voice seemed very commanding, and seemed to demand respect.

_"Ok guys, looks like it's time to got out of here. We knew they'd find us here eventually. It looks like they've cut the power. If we're lucky we can still sneak out of here before they get to us."_

That was when all hell broke loose.

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I do not own, or claim to own anything from halo or from any other referenced series (even though I can't think of any others). I do own the characters though.

I would like everyone to bear with me because though this is in the halo section, it is very loosely based on it and is supposed to be an alternate dimension sort of thing. some concepts and even maybe some people will be the same, but for the most part it will be very, very different.

One thing, I would like suggestions on how best to seperate the dialogue from the narration. I'm hoping that the Italics works for now, but I want a better, easier on the reader way of doing it.


	2. Chapter 2

**After the storm**

**Book 1**

**Survival**

**

* * *

**

**Chapter 2**

Twisting metal, gunshots, bright flashes from the muzzles of guns.

Something hit him in the back of the head. Hard.

Blackness.

Blurred images.

More Blackness.

When he finally came to, he struggled to stay awake this time. Surprisingly, it was fairly easy once he opened his eyes.

Had he looked around, he would have been astonished that he was still in the same room as he had been before. He might have been alarmed that his friends were no longer there. He might even have been intrigued by the rather large piece of machinery now placed against the wall to his right. He was not any of these however, because he was staring at the man right in front of him.

The man wore Mark VIII amour, which normally meant the military. But this man obviously wasn't part of the military. This man wore armour of pure black, a sure sign as to this man's allegiances. He was one of _them_.

The man spoke then, with a voice that would chill the spine of the coldest killer, and a rasp that put the worst loss of voice to shame, all the while filling the room loud enough for people to hear in the back if there had been anyone there to hear it.

"_The maggot has decided to awake now has he?_"

"_What do you want with me?_" the survivor asked rather weakly.

The man laughed, sending a chill down the back of the armour clad civilian

"_Oh, it was not a choice of mine, I assure you. No, the Master has special plans for you._"

Trying to sound important, he lied to the man, fabricating a tale that might make him worry or at least have him show some sort of mercy.

"_How do you know that I'm not someone important? How do you know that the military won't come looking for me?_"

More laughing. He was starting to feel very small next to this frightening man.

"_Ha! Your 'Military' is a joke! They are losing ground day by day! And still you place your face in them?_" The man replied

"_That's a lie!_"

"_You really don't know do you? We've all but destroyed the last of that pathetic resistance. Even your vaunted Spartans fell before our might until only your precious Master Chief stood in our way. And then we took great pleasure in destroying him as well. You have lost worm! You and the rest of your people!_"

Struggling to his feet the, he defiantly swung his fists wildly towards the man, but was swiftly and easily thrown to the ground and kicked in the stomach. With a new pain to cope with, his eyes watered up slightly. Through his pain he defiantly said to the man

"_We'll never stop fighting, we'll never give up._"

The man simply shook his head in what appeared to be mirth.

"_We don't care if you give up, only that you die. And don't worry, die you shall._"

As he said the last statement, the man violently punched him in the face, creating a massive impact, seemingly impossible by human standards. The man then walked over to the table and sat down, looking at some sort of computer.

As the lone remaining member of the band that had lived in this little hut started to lose consciousness he heard yet more gunfire. He struggled to remain awake, to stay conscious for just those last couple moments.

Suddenly, as the man turned to go see what the commotion was a hail of gunfire came through the doorway. At first they flickered against the man's shield as he reached for his own gun, but before he could put it to use he was torn to shreds by bullets.

The last thing John heard when he finally lost the battle with unconsciousness was a firm, reassuring voice.

"_It's ok, you're in safe hands now._"

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Disclaimer: I do not own Halo, or anything else really. I just own the characters in the story, at least this far.

This story has been a new style of writing for me. I would like some feedback as to whether it works or not. I still need to work out some kinks in my story but I'm pretty happy so far.

Another note about the story is that I was going for a certain effect, keeping the John's name a secret until the end of the chapter. If that made it hard to understand, sorry. I'm still in the experimentation stage here.

Also, be on the lookout for if I add a prelude or something in later on. I've been toying with the idea of an intro chapter but haven't gotten around to it.

By the way, have you ever noticed that these things look way longer when you are typing them up on a word processor. I transfer it onto here and my mood just plummets because the story looks so much shorter on here and... how should I put this... so... second rate. I always feel like I should have put more in once I put it on here. I have no idea how some of you guys with the +10 000 word chapters do it. I can only be so descriptive and thats it.

Anyway, I'll update within the next week (Crosses his fingers and hopes that he's right)


End file.
